The chairwoman of the European Parliament's European
Internet Foundation said she believed the US Congress and its
European Union counterpart will come up with an agreement to
prosecute spammers across international borders.
The US and European Union stand at a critical juncture for
fighting unsolicited commercial e-mail, as the US Congress
considers antispam legislation and the European Commission this
week has promised concrete action on spam by late this year, said
Erika Mann, a member of the European Parliament (MEP) from
Germany.
Mann was among a group of nine MEPs talking to congressional
leaders and US federal agencies this week about working together on
technology issues.
"If you don't get international agreement on this issue, you
will never solve it," said Mann. "We want to go after those
[spammers] who are operating illegally."
As congress considers antispam legislation, critics have
suggested that US legislation will do little to stem the tide of
spam coming from other countries. But Mann said Europeans are just
as fed up with spam as US residents are, and she believes the US
and European Union will soon come to an agreement that leads to
enforcement of spam laws on both sides of the Atlantic.
The spam law enforcement agreement would then "set the standard
for the rest of the world", Mann said.
In May 2002, the European Parliament passed antispam legislation
requiring companies to receive consumer opt-in permission before
sending them commercial e-mail.
Three bills that have been heard in the US Congress since May
all require consumers to send opt-out requests to companies sending
them e-mail, but Mann said the different approaches should not
hinder an enforcement agreement between the US and European
Union.
"I'm not sure if the opt-in or the opt-out is the best," Mann
said. Although the European Union prefers an opt-in approach, it
and the US are closer to agreement on spam and other internet
issues than on many other issues, she said.
Mann said her group would push for an international agreement on
enforcing spam laws.
US representative Bob Goodlatte, and co-chairman of the
Congressional Internet Caucus, said the US and EU need to work more
closely together on a variety of technology issues, including spam,
piracy and internet taxation.
"The internet is the greatest challenge to the sovereignty of
nations and states in the history of mankind," he said, noting that
countries have to work together to overcome these issues.
Grant Gross writes for IDG News Service